Dinner party activities

My SO wants to start having some of his friends over for dinner. Usually when we get together at their place we're watching sports or messing around on the deck. We don't have TV or a yard, but I feel strange just putting food on the table and no paying attention to the rest of the night. Any ideas are great.

When we have dinner parties at our house, my SO and I tend to serve lots of drinks and something to nosh on when people first arrive as we're finishing the food. We all sit in the kitchen together and drink, and then when we're ready, we have dinner. We have been known to do board games like Pictionary or Apples to Apples (which is actually really fun), and we show movies on our wall, but that is a full evening activity, and then the dinner party part gets cut short. Don't worry about not having activities as long as you have ample drinks and people who will enjoy them.

Over Thanksgiving, we were introduced to a domino game called Chicken Foot that was a lot of fun for adults and kids alike. It takes a special domino set with double 12s on down in it.We also played the new 25th anniversary addition of Trivial Pursuit. Wow did the age differences show up.

I'm in with Apples to Apples. In our family, it has become an after-dinner ritual when the whole crew is around. Lots of laughs and fun. Also Loaded Questions is another great time. Scene It is also a good one!